The Untamed episodes 5 to 7
Aug. 5th, 2020 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayYes, I did watch three episodes yesterday. Yes, you probably should pity ![[twitter.com profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
hockeybosh for the flailing she got over them.
I'm probably going to be tackling this all out of order, so buckle up for some flailing.
First up, there is the scene that made me very uncomfortable because it's the first time WWX let his mischievous side go too far and into a mean place. Yes, it's the drinking scene with him doing some kind of puppet magic on Lan Zhan. I don't think WWX is deliberately cruel, but it's clear here that he's young and doesn't know where the boundaries are and he gets it very wrong in a way that hurts someone.
At the same time, there is that short section where he talks to LWJ about his dead parents and tries to bond with him over dead mothers, which would have been a great scene if it wasn't for all the bits around that scene.
His chaos demon side overruled his labrador puppy side at the worst moment. Don't do that again, okay?
I think that was the only bad part of this episodes, because everything else was SO MUCH FLAIL.
The library scene. The trip to the water town. The evil water spirits. FLYING.
The entire section with the cold pool cave. Bunnies with Lan headbands *crying with joy* Plot! So much plot!
LWJ with the headband and the wrists and WWX and...
("Welp, they're married now" was HB's comment, and I agree so much. <3)
And then the sky lanterns, with WWX making the lovely bunny lantern and LWJ's tiny surprised expression. The boy needs so many hugs and I know just the labrador-puppy-chaos-demon to help him with that. That whole sequence is beautiful, both for the things that are revealed by the characters and on an aesthetic level. This is such a pretty show.
I'm concluding that Wen Ning and Wen Qing are the only good Wens and I like them both more with every episode. I'm so intrigued about Wen Ning and what he is, why he reacts so strongly to the evil water creatures and how he becomes that scary chain-wrapped creature. I'm sure this is why we had two episodes in the 16 years later period before we got to this: to make us constantly ask questions about how the characters get to where they are then.
Jiang Yanli has terrible taste in men, but she's lovely and therefore I'm forced to hope that Jin Zixuan is less annoying than he appears to be. I don't blame WWX one bit for hitting him.
Did WWX actually go to any lectures or did he spend his entire time writing lines in the library or kneeling somewhere contemplating ants?
Lan Xichen is still lovely, and also a fearsome magic person. But also a matchmaker who can see how lonely his brother is and is trying to help, except he's also a troll for picking WWX as the person his brother could be friends with. I love him.
Lan Zhan's face when he realises WWX is leaving and they'll probably never see each other again is beautiful. That tiny flash of sadness. He's got the Lan control down almost perfectly, so you know that when his expression cracks even slightly, it means there are big feelings happening underneath. WWX shows everything he thinks right there, no hiding it, but LWJ is so focused on being the perfect Lan that his tiny micro-expressions of real emotion might actually be more honest.
I'm fairly confident WWX is going to sneak off to follow him on adventures, but I'm conflicted about how loudly LWJ will actually complain about this. Probably not as loudly as he'd like to think he will.
The plot is starting to make more sense, or at least I'm starting to get a better feel for the shape of some elements, and I'm getting better at remembering who is who (at least with characters who are on screen regularly). I'm definitely glad I didn't pick this as my first c-drama because it's so complicated, but I'm loving it and I can see why it's become so popular. So many great characters! So many interesting relationships! So much subtext!
I don't know that I'd dare to write fic in this fandom, but I can see that I'll be diving into reading fic later :)
I'm probably going to be tackling this all out of order, so buckle up for some flailing.
First up, there is the scene that made me very uncomfortable because it's the first time WWX let his mischievous side go too far and into a mean place. Yes, it's the drinking scene with him doing some kind of puppet magic on Lan Zhan. I don't think WWX is deliberately cruel, but it's clear here that he's young and doesn't know where the boundaries are and he gets it very wrong in a way that hurts someone.
At the same time, there is that short section where he talks to LWJ about his dead parents and tries to bond with him over dead mothers, which would have been a great scene if it wasn't for all the bits around that scene.
His chaos demon side overruled his labrador puppy side at the worst moment. Don't do that again, okay?
I think that was the only bad part of this episodes, because everything else was SO MUCH FLAIL.
The library scene. The trip to the water town. The evil water spirits. FLYING.
The entire section with the cold pool cave. Bunnies with Lan headbands *crying with joy* Plot! So much plot!
LWJ with the headband and the wrists and WWX and...
("Welp, they're married now" was HB's comment, and I agree so much. <3)
And then the sky lanterns, with WWX making the lovely bunny lantern and LWJ's tiny surprised expression. The boy needs so many hugs and I know just the labrador-puppy-chaos-demon to help him with that. That whole sequence is beautiful, both for the things that are revealed by the characters and on an aesthetic level. This is such a pretty show.
I'm concluding that Wen Ning and Wen Qing are the only good Wens and I like them both more with every episode. I'm so intrigued about Wen Ning and what he is, why he reacts so strongly to the evil water creatures and how he becomes that scary chain-wrapped creature. I'm sure this is why we had two episodes in the 16 years later period before we got to this: to make us constantly ask questions about how the characters get to where they are then.
Jiang Yanli has terrible taste in men, but she's lovely and therefore I'm forced to hope that Jin Zixuan is less annoying than he appears to be. I don't blame WWX one bit for hitting him.
Did WWX actually go to any lectures or did he spend his entire time writing lines in the library or kneeling somewhere contemplating ants?
Lan Xichen is still lovely, and also a fearsome magic person. But also a matchmaker who can see how lonely his brother is and is trying to help, except he's also a troll for picking WWX as the person his brother could be friends with. I love him.
Lan Zhan's face when he realises WWX is leaving and they'll probably never see each other again is beautiful. That tiny flash of sadness. He's got the Lan control down almost perfectly, so you know that when his expression cracks even slightly, it means there are big feelings happening underneath. WWX shows everything he thinks right there, no hiding it, but LWJ is so focused on being the perfect Lan that his tiny micro-expressions of real emotion might actually be more honest.
I'm fairly confident WWX is going to sneak off to follow him on adventures, but I'm conflicted about how loudly LWJ will actually complain about this. Probably not as loudly as he'd like to think he will.
The plot is starting to make more sense, or at least I'm starting to get a better feel for the shape of some elements, and I'm getting better at remembering who is who (at least with characters who are on screen regularly). I'm definitely glad I didn't pick this as my first c-drama because it's so complicated, but I'm loving it and I can see why it's become so popular. So many great characters! So many interesting relationships! So much subtext!
I don't know that I'd dare to write fic in this fandom, but I can see that I'll be diving into reading fic later :)
no subject
Date: 2020-08-05 04:31 pm (UTC)And there is so much amazing fic out there to read. SO MUCH. Everything from huge elaborate canon compliant stories through to adorable fluffy modern AUs. You will never be bored, I can promise you that.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-05 05:45 pm (UTC)I really wasn't expecting it! He's so good at saying a lot with tiny movements, it's amazing.
You will never be bored, I can promise you that.
I have gathered this :D
I'm still reading ALL THE GUARDIAN FIC but I sense it will run out eventually. Woe.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-05 06:01 pm (UTC)Wang Yibo is really good at conveying emotion with the smallest of gestures!
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 12:12 pm (UTC)I'd say you're going to regret that, but I sense you'd disagree :D
He's so good and I'm preparing myself for heartbreak conveyed by one tiny eye flicker. This is going to go well.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-05 06:28 pm (UTC)I love the bunnies so much!
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 12:13 pm (UTC)I need Lan Zhan with bunnies, but I sense that I'll be disappointed there.